Scotts organic as a winterizer

rutgers1(6NJ)March 25, 2008

Did anyone else use the Scotts Organic Choice Lawn Food as a winterizer?

I live in one of those developments where you can pass about 100 houses in about 15 seconds of driving, and I have been amazed by my spring greenup compared to other lawns. I would say that 90% have services taking care of them, so it isn't like they are neglected. My winterizing consisted of mulching up a lot of leaves with my mower and applying the Scotts.

Anyone else? And if you didn't, I would love to see some people give it a shot this year and let us know how it worked in the spring.

My home lawn has been organic for 7 years now and Im always the first to green up regardless of which fert I've used and I've used a lot. Restore, Cock-a-doodle-do, Milorganite, Scotts, and SBM.

I'd say mulching those leaves into the soil is probably helping at least as much as the winter fert. When the soil warms and the little beasties can start processing that organic matter you're going to get a nice green up.

it's only percentage. It just means you can cover more area with less bulk. It also matters what is it in the product. If I recall, Scotts organic contain feather meal, blood meal, meat meal to name a few and feather meal and blood meal contain the highest percentage of protein by weight. Feather meal breaks down very slowly. Blood meal works extremely fast. No idea on meat meal since there doesn't seem to be much info about it as fertilizer.

Fertilizer is only one factor in spring greenup. I think more importantly is what types of grass you have. For example, Midnight-type KBG's are known for very long winter dormancy and late spring greenup. Other cultivars are known for much better winter color retention and performance. I don't expect to see my lawn (Midnight and Compact-type cultivars) "waking up" until late april, no matter what winterizer was put down. My lawn is one of the last to greenup but I've learned to accept this.